New Canon Pixma TS series

[PeterBJ]

Isn't one purpose of having one or more grey ink cartridge(s) to get a better greyscale with no or less colour cast? Canon claims the photo blue improves the colours of the sky and sea water. Maybe colour printing is considered more important than B/W printing in the new printer series?

 

[mikling]

So what's the point of grey if not more "shades"?

That will allow richer smoother dark shadows. It's not the color but the texture of the dark color. Tonal resolution in the dark shadows. For many people this aspect is lost and of no use. If you are not using a calibrated monitor and look in real detail. In these cases where the viewing is not critical, it is better to simply get the 5 tanks equivalent instead. At the prince point of a TS9020 and if living in NA, then get a Pro-100. The value ratio blows the 9020 out completely.

 

[mikling]

Isn't one purpose of having one or more grey ink cartridge(s) to get a better greyscale with no or less colour cast? Canon claims the photo blue improves the colours of the sky and sea water. Maybe colour printing is considered more important than B/W printing in the new printer series?

No. the reality is that there are few Blue inks available. Canon will say this and it makes sense to the uninformed. The reality is that they have a dye that is not readily available in the aftermarket now and want to leverage and give themselves some space to make a few dollars in the meantime.

 

[mikling]

Isn't one purpose of having one or more grey ink cartridge(s) to get a better greyscale with no or less colour cast? Canon claims the photo blue improves the colours of the sky and sea water. Maybe colour printing is considered more important than B/W printing in the new printer series?

You gain better grayscale with fewer required nozzle resolutions by incorporating grey into the inkset. The other advantage is that the color becomes more stable in different variations of lighting. This last aspect if lost on many and not easy for the consumer to understand. Remember that it is all dots. Canon has also incorporated tricks into the greys that they make.
Quite a bit of trickery into their grays. Remember there are many ways to make grey, they have balanced out the situations quite nicely. Kudos to their engineers I don't know if anybody eve rpicked up on this. Might be an engineering secret of theirs.

 

[Drjim]

"The value ratio blows the 9020 outcompletely."

Agree. Found a new pro100 on craigs list for $100. But needed to replace my wife's HP8450 with a small letter size printer. So enters the 9020.

 

[stratman]

From the druckerchannel article:

the new color set is particularly noticeable. In addition to pigment black, black, cyan, magenta and yellow there is a so-called "Fotoblau". This replaces the previous "gray", which should provide a particularly neutral representation in monochrome photos. The new ink is exclusively used on specialty paper and is intended to improve above all sky, seawater or other blue areas.

Maybe the English translation from German unintentionally alters the original meaning, but it appears to say that the new Photo Blue provides particularly neutral tonal B&W's without the Grey cartridge. Marketing, mistaken translation, or merited description?

 

[PeterBJ]

I think the translation is OK, but I read it to mean: "In addition to pigment black, black, cyan, magenta and yellow there is a so-called "Fotoblau". This replaces the previous "gray", which should provide a particularly neutral representation in monochrome photos."

I mean the text says the now discontinued grey had the purpose of improving grey tones in monochrome photos.

The text from the original German article is here:

Neben marginalen Unterschieden fällt vor allem der neue Farbsatz auf. Neben Pigmentschwarz, Fotoschwarz, Cyan, Magenta und Gelb gibt es neuerdings ein sogenanntes "Fotoblau". Dieses ersetzt das bisherige "Grau", welches für eine besonders neutrale Darstellung bei monochromen Fotos sorgen sollte.

 

[Roy Sletcher]

My 2 cents personal opinion.

Maybe we should not be confusing Corporate Market Speak with technical facts.

In this field the colour technicians and engineers will be more concerned with colorimetry and data from spectral plots than with fancy multi language adjectives.

Marketing people abhor the intrusion of the real world. It destroys their carefully crafted illusions they wish their customers to embrace.

How much extra are you willing to pay for it If you can't see it, and can't measure it?

rs

 

[stratman]

I mean the text says the now discontinued grey had the purpose of improving grey tones in monochrome photos.

The use of the word "should" implies an obligation not yet met. Based on that, druckerchannel, or at least the translation, is saying the Gray ink will likely improve monochrome images but has yet to do so. That would be odd to not know whether Gray ink does or does not improve monochrome since Grey ink has been in use for some time now.

If Gray is the reason for improved monochrome then better ways of expressing this include:

"This replaces the previous "gray", which should provided a particularly neutral representation in monochrome photos."

Or,

"This replaces the previous "gray", which should that provided a particularly neutral representation in monochrome photos."

Peter, your knowledge of inks may color your perception (pun intended) of the sentence meaning that is not entirely implied by sentence structure in the translation. Based on English grammar, someone with no knowledge of inks could think Photo Blue may improve monochrome output.

I do not understand written German so I can only go by the English translation. German grammar may have different sentence structures and accurately stated what you, I and others thought it meant despite the awkward English translation.

 

[Drjim]

Someone should tell Canon that the Pro100 had too many grey carts. Good for cloudy days. GeeWhiz.